


Big Hero 5

by JadedSkylark



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Hiro dies instead of Tadashi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-30
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-08-18 17:07:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8169448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JadedSkylark/pseuds/JadedSkylark
Summary: What would happen if Hiro died instead of Tadashi? If Hiro had run in to save Callaghan? Well, this is what.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is a commission I've been doing for @angrysmolspeaks on tumblr

 

Hiro stood in the run down ware house, his eyes never leaving the bot fight in front of him. He knew how this was going to go- he'd seen far too many go the same way by this point. After what couldn't have been more than five minutes, the pink-haired woman's bot was destroyed, the expression on her face showing all of her disappointment at her loss.

The giant man across from her laughed, taking his money from his win. His laugh rumbled through the warehouse, so loud Hiro could hear it clearly through the crowd's cheering and screaming. He couldn't help but chuckle along with the man. After all, he knew that Yama's success was soon to be cut short.

The woman in charge of the fight raised her voice and the crowd went quieter instantly. “Is there anyone else who dares go against our reigning champion?”

 _Well, here goes nothing_ , Hiro thought to himself. He took a step forward, pushing lightly against the crowd.

“Can I try?” Hiro questioned, putting on a nervous expression as the crowd instantly parted around him to reveal his person to the bot fighter and the woman in charge.

Hiro held onto his nervous facade even through the woman demanding for his money and the man, Yama, laughing in his face. He knew they didn't take him seriously- and that was what made this even more fun for Hiro. The ones who never took him seriously always paid out more money than the ones who had seen his face before and knew better than to fight against him.

Knowing he wasn't going to get anywhere without handing over his already earned money, Hiro forked over some cash. The crumbled up the bills just for added childishness. He knew how to fool people like Yama and this was only a way to add onto his naivety. Without a second thought, Hiro took a seat and let his bot slide down in the middle of the arena.

The first fight was always the quickest. Hiro pretended to not know what he was doing. He always let his opponent destroy his bot easily in the first fight. His motto: let them win, act surprised, and then attack. Hiro stared in feigned horror as his bot was “sawed” into pieces and fell to the floor.

 

“Wait! Let me try again!” Hiro forced his voice to go higher in an attempt to sound even more upset and childish at losing.

“No one likes a sore loser, kid.” Hiro almost lost his innocent facade right then and there at the man's words.

With a slow breath to pull in his anger, Hiro pulled out another wad of cash and held it up. He knew once Yama took the bait, that this battle would go even more quickly than the first. Hiro didn't go easy on his opponents once they took the bait and fell at the hands of his own bot.

Just as Hiro had thought he would, Yama took the bait and they started another fight. Hiro calmly pulled his controller out to its proper size and turned on his bot's actual fighting program. With a stone-cold face, Hiro defeated Yama's bot with ease. He should have yawned to show just how easy this was, but he decided against it in fear of the bigger man getting even more angry.

“ Aw, no more little Yama.” As Yama's bot fell, Hiro couldn't help the sarcastic comment from slipping out.

When Yama's goons pushed him against the wall after the fight, Hiro slightly regretted his comment- but only slightly. His money was ripped from his hands as Yama skulked away like the sore loser he was, and Hiro was left with two men much larger than he was. He closed his eyes, awaiting a fist to the face when he heard the sound of a vehicle coming closer. Hiro's eyes shot open as Tadashi whipped around him on his scooter and grabbed him.

Tadashi threw Hiro onto the back of his scooter, and then they were gone. Hiro whooped in excitement as they left Yama's lackeys in the dust. His excitement was short lived, though, as Tadashi began to question him.

“Are you hurt?” Tadashi yelled, his voice difficult to hear over the wind whipping around them.

“No!” Hiro shouted back, almost laughing as he said it. His laughter was cut short as Tadashi reached back and punched him repeatedly in the arm.

“Then _what_  were you  _thinking_?! You know bot fighting is illegal, Hiro!”

“No, betting on bot fighting is illegal!” Hiro pulled out his money to show Tadashi the money he had won, despite the fact that doing so was proving that he had still been doing something highly illegal.

The sound of sirens filled the air not even a second later, forcing Tadashi to slam on his breaks. The brothers stared in horror as the police looked straight at them. A sigh escaped Tadashi's lips as he saw the policemen approach them.

Not even half an hour later, Tadashi and Hiro were being driven home by their Aunt. She was ranting at them the entire drive home, and Tadashi knew that his brother wasn't listening to any of it. It was disappointing, he knew it, but Hiro really didn't care. He was getting money by bot fighting, and he had already graduated high school, so what did it matter? He was smarter than most, and he knew what he was doing, so if he could make a little extra cash, what did being locked up for a little bit matter? It may have upset Aunt Cass, but Hiro knew she'd forget about it within the week. Hiro at least pretended to feel bad for his actions until he and Tadashi got into their room.

Tadashi spotted the screen of Hiro's computer before Hiro could turn around to hide it. With a small frown, Tadashi raised an eyebrow. “You're going, aren't you?”

“Yeah, if I hurry I can still make it,” Hiro replied, already grabbing his bot and heading toward the door.

Tadashi ran a hand down his face, groaning softly. He muttered, almost to himself. “Oh, what would mom and dad say?”

“I don't know,” Hiro looked over to his brother from the door. “They died when I was three, remember?”

Tadashi froze, looking at his brother for one long moment. Hiro was right. Their parents were gone, and while their Aunt Cass loved them both and cared for them, she wasn't their parent. He was the only one out of the two of them who remembered a time before mom and dad had died. Suddenly, an idea popped into Tadashi's head and he smiled at Hiro. Picking up a helmet, Tadashi tossed it over to Hiro.

“I'll take you then.”

“What? Really?” Hiro stared at the helmet in surprise.

“Yeah, now come on! If we hurry, we can make it.” Tadashi turned away and made his way back down to his motorbike.

Hiro hurried after him, nearly tripping over his feet as he rushed down the stairs behind Tadashi. By the time he made it down, Tadashi was waiting for him on the bike, a smug grin on his face. Hiro took his place behind his brother without a second though, a grin on his lips as Tadashi started the engine and took off. Hiro's thoughts were whipping around in his mind as Tadashi drove him to the bot fight. Or at least...

That was where Hiro thought they were going. That though quickly disappeared the instant he realized Tadashi was pulling up to his university.

“Hey!” Hiro yelled over the wind. “The bot fight's the other way!”

Tadashi glanced back with a smirk. “Yeah, but I need to pick something up first. It'll just take a minute.”

Hiro groaned lightly, but didn't complain any more as Tadashi parked his scooter and got off. He did, however, grimace and complain when Tadashi made him come inside with him. Hiro trudged along beside his brother as they made their way up Tadashi's nerd school's steps and toward the lab. Tadashi, of course, had a plan that Hiro was unaware of, but Tadashi simply smiled as he led his brother to his lab.

Tadashi pushed open the door to the lab, allowing Hiro to step inside. The teen was taken aback the instant he laid eyes on his surroundings. Was that a flying cat? What even was that machine supposed to do? And was that... Hiro gasped softly and approached the motorbike the girl had been working on. He waved his hand in the empty space between the wheel and the bike in awe.

“Electromagnetic suspension.” Hiro muttered in awe.

The girl, whoever she was, took the wheel and threw it to the pile of others, complaining that it still wasn't fast enough, not good enough. Tadashi was introducing him to the girl, Gogo, but he couldn't find it in himself to care once he laid eyes on the lasers. He was over there in an instant-

And instantly pushed back by a large man telling him to stay behind the line.

Hiro was in total awe as he saw the laser induced plasma cleanly slice the fruit to pieces. Not even Gogo coming over to snatch something off of the man's table as he had been explaining how everything had its own place could lessen Hiro's awe.

Hiro felt as if he was the main character in a movie with how many times he spotted a new experiment that caught his interest. This giant ball of solid metal was interesting, but what made him nearly lose his composure was the fact that this girl just turned this ball of solid metal into an explosion of soft pink gas. Chemical metal embrittlement was what she called it, and Hiro was amazed.

After the girl had exploded her ball of metal, Hiro met the, undeniably, most interesting person he had met at this school so far.

Fred was his name, and he was hilarious. He didn't go to the school apparently, but Hiro could see that they all loved him. He was the “school mascot by day, and by night I'm the school mascot.” Hiro was listening to him go on about comic books and wanting to be turned into a giant lizard of some sort when he noticed Tadashi waiting for him by another door. Hiro snuck away from his new friends, from Tadashi's friends, and made his way over to his brother.

“So what are you working on?” Hiro found himself asking, genuinely interested in what his brother could possibly be working on that could compare to what he had just seen outside.

Tadashi smiled and led his brother inside his personal lab, pulling out a roll of duct tape as that door closed. Hiro raised an eye, quipping that duct tape was already invented, when Tadashi placed a cut of tape on Hiro's arm. Hiro had only a split second to realize what he was doing before the tape was ripped away. He yelped in pain, cradling his arm to his chest. Opening his mouth to ask what the heck his brother had been thinking, Hiro laid eyes on the box against the wall.

Slowly inflating and coming out of the box was what looked to Hiro at first glance like a giant marshmallow. He stared in silence at the marshmallow creature grew to full size and made its way over to them. It stopped right in front of Hiro, beside Tadashi- who was looking as proud as a father does when his child does something amazing.

“Hello! I am Baymax, your personal health-care companion,” it, Baymax, stated in a kind voice. “On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your pain?”

Hiro raised an eyebrow, eyes sliding over to his traitor of a brother. “Physical or emotional?”

Hiro was instantly over his annoyance with his brother at the pout Tadashi gave him. He was far more interested in this robotic health-care device than he was in bugging his elder brother. He circled the robot, eyeing the different details about it's out structure, as well as it's inner core. Hiro was blown away by the sheer detail Tadashi had put into this robot. He pressed his face into the robot's stomach to take a closer look at the core.

Tadashi had a proud expression on his face when Hiro finally looked back up him. He knew he had caught Hiro's attention, but Hiro still didn't know why they were even here. Then again, he could hardly remember where they had originally been on their way to before Tadashi had stopped- oh yeah. They had been on their way to a bot fight. That seemed so long ago to Hiro when it had only been an hour, at most, ago.

Hiro stated a proud “I am satisfied with my care” to put the robot away before he and his brother made their way out of the school. Hiro's thoughts were racing in his mind, so much so that Tadashi could practically see it. He knew what his brother was thinking, and he knew he had almost entirely convinced him to come to this school. Tadashi just wanted him to come here so he could use his brain more- for important things, not for bot fighting.

The elder wasn't sure if this one trip had done it until they ran into his professor. Hiro admired the guy, but he didn't know who he was at first glance. Tadashi nearly breathed a sigh of relief when his professor spoke to his brother. Hiro was totally blown away by the man before them, and Tadashi knew this was the deciding factor. This was what was going to change Hiro's mind.

And Tadashi was right.

The moment the brothers stepped outside, Hiro stopped in his tracks and turned to Tadashi. His eyes were hard, convinced on what he wanted to do, and Tadashi couldn't have been more proud than he was in that moment.

“I have to go here.”

Those were the words Tadashi had been waiting to hear for months. He instantly set to work on gathering materials for his brother, telling him about the showcase he knew his brother could win. Tadashi knew once his brother set his mind to something, he could do it, so this showcase, this showcase where hundreds of students would be introducing new and innovative inventions, would be no problem for his genius of a kid brother.

And even through the trouble of Hiro coming up with his invention, Tadashi knew it was going to work out for him. Once the teen had his idea in mind, he set to work on creating micro-bot after micro-bot. Of course, Tadashi and his friends helped his brother to speed up the process, but they barely did anything in comparison to what Hiro was doing. Hiro, who was creating the biggest invention of their century. Hiro, who was going to be amazing when he introduced his new invention. Hiro, who was going to do great things in his life.

The day of the showcase was quickly coming up on them, and Tadashi watched as his brother grew more anxious with every passing hour. He was hardly focusing in anything but the showcase at this point- constantly practicing and re-practicing his speech he was planning on giving. He consistently built multiple structures with his micro-bots, hoping it would form right and move correctly. So far, there had been no problems, as Tadashi had expected, but Hiro couldn't remain calm. He practiced and adjusted his work for hours every day. Tadashi would have been worried if he didn't know this was how his brother coped with anxiety.

Then the day of the showcase was upon them. Tadashi called his friends over, their friends now, and they came to help lug all the micro-bots to the school. Tadashi could tell, even though the smiles his brother gave their friends, that Hiro was nervous. He tried to reassure him, pump him up, but he knew it was in vain. His brother was more nervous than he had ever been before.

Hiro's quiet, “I really want to go here.” was the last straw for Tadashi. He placed a hand on his brother's shoulder and reassured him that he would be fine.

And he was.

Tadashi was amazed as well as, even though he knew what was coming. The micro-bots swirled around them, around Hiro, leaving everyone in the audience as a stunned mess. Tadashi and Aunt Cass smiled, both proud of Hiro in different ways. Tadashi could see Hiro's anxiety and nervousness practically melt away as the crowd began to grow. His voice grew with the crowd around them, and Hiro's designs with the micro-bots grew more confident. When he was done, the entire room was cheering.

Hiro was still nervous when he got off the stage, but Tadashi knew if wasn't as bad. He ran over to his brother with his friends and aunt, all of them congratulating Hiro on his presentation. Hiro thanked them, but his focus was ripped away after only a second. A man walked up to them, complimenting Hiro on his micro-bots. He even took one in his hand to observe it. Tadashi felt he was the only one who noticed the man stick the micro-bot in his pocket.

The man, Mr. Krei of Krei Tech, was trying to buy Hiro's micro-bots. Tadashi had a bad feeling about this man. He wanted to scream that they weren't for sale, force him away from his brother, but he knew it wasn't his place to do that. It was his brother's.

Of course, the moment Tadashi's professor came over and told Hiro he was welcome to the school, Hiro had already made his decision. He declined Mr. Krei's offer, much to Tadashi's relief, and accepted Callaghan's offer to the school. Tadashi eyed the business man as he began to walk away. He still had the micro-bot, and no one else seemed to notice.

“Uh, Mr. Krei?” Tadashi stepped forward, pointing to the man's pocket. He wasn't allowing this man to steal his brother's hard work. “That's my brother's.”

Krei feigned a kind smile and pulled the micro-bot from his pocket, tossing it over to Hiro. He turned away in a huff, and Tadashi watched him go. Good riddance was what Tadashi wanted to say to him, but he kept his mouth shut as their group filed outside the building. His aunt declared she would be feeding them all tonight, but Tadashi still wanted to talk to his brother privately. He mentioned it to Aunt Cass, and she smiled and hugged them each before going off with their friends.

Tadashi walked with Hiro to a secluded area overlooking the school. He smiled, proud of his kid brother. He was growing up so fast, but he was still so young. Tadashi could hardly believe he was barely a teenager sometimes.

“So you're finally using that gift of yours?” Tadashi turned it into a question, but it was more of a statement and they both knew it. He smiled over at his brother- one of his proud brotherly smiles.

Hiro rolled his eyes. “Is that why you called me out here?”

Tadashi smirked softly, his voice turning nonchalant. “No, I was going to tell you that your fly was down the entire time.”

Hiro turned red. “Ha! Very funny.”

There was a beat of silence as Hiro glanced down, yelping when he saw that his fly was actually down. A small fist met Tadashi's arm as Hiro turned even redder in embarrassment. Another moment of silence passed over the brothers, their eyes glued to the school down below. Tadashi smiled softly, his voice as soft as his smile.

“Welcome to nerd school.”

“Well,” Hiro began, voice suddenly shy. “I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you. So, y'know...”

Hiro paused, glancing up at Tadashi. “Thanks for not giving up.”

A single beat. The instant between peace and tranquility and utter destruction. That's all it took: a single beat. One second the brothers were standing there, smiling at each other- both proud of the other in their own way- and the next moment, there was an explosion down below. Hiro and Tadashi both whipped around at the sound of the explosion, horror coating their once tranquil expressions. The took off toward the building at nearly the same time, running through burning lungs until they made it to the school building. Hiro yelled in terror.

“Mr. Callaghan's still in there!” he screamed, eyes wild with concern. He looked back to his brother once before taking off toward the burning building.

Tadashi grabbed his arm, his heart racing in a panic. “Hiro! What do you think you're doing?”

Hiro froze for only a second before ripping his arm out of his jacket and racing toward the fire without another word. Tadashi watched as he jumped through the door and ran into the flames. He pressed himself forward, attempting to go after his brother- to save him from his own stupidity- when...

The building exploded once more, flames going higher and hotter than before. Tadashi was thrown backward from the force of the blast. He smacked his head against the concrete as he fell to the ground. His gaze was blurry as he looked at the building, but there was no sign of Hiro even through the flames.

“Hiro!”

Tadashi forced himself up and took another step toward the building. His heart began to sink as he realized what had happened. Hiro wasn't in there anymore. He... he was gone.

Tadashi felt himself losing touch with everything around him. The sirens, the police questioning him, the paramedics making sure he was physically fine- none of it phased him. His mind was focused on one thing, and that was his brother. His brother who was gone.

The pain he felt was nothing like anything he had ever felt before. He remembered when he had lost his parents, when they had been killed when he was younger, but this was far worse than that. He hadn't had to plan the funeral for them. Tadashi had only had to attend it and take care of his little, baby brother. This time around, Tadashi was the one planning the funeral instead of his Aunt.

Time seemed to slow down, nearly come to a halt, as life began to move on without Hiro by his side. Tadashi kept himself busy to distract himself from the pain. He continued to attend school- the absence of both Hiro and his professor leaving a very obvious hole in Tadashi's life. He could barely stand to go home to his and Hiro's shared roomed sometimes. The pain of seeing Hiro's stuff had nearly caused Tadashi to fall to the floor in a sobbing mess.

Today, however, was different. He still felt pain, but it subsided the moment Tadashi laid eyes on Hiro's bot. He smiled softly and sat down at his brother's desk, picking up the bot with a gentle touch. He sighed softly, turning the bot over in his hands. He had always admired Hiro's way with robotics, but it really wasn't fair that his younger brother got all the smarts.

Tadashi sighed and sat the bot down on the desk once more, pushing himself to his feet with a frown. This wasn't good for him. Dwelling on the past when Hiro was alive would only cause him more pain. He needed to be at school, in his lab with his friends. He knew it would make it worse to just dwell on his upset feelings over actually doing something productive and working on his inventions.

Tadashi made his way to school, head down and hands shoved in his pocket to hide himself from anyone he didn't want to talk to. There were only a few people he was in the mood to speak to, and they were all the way at their school right now. Tadashi hurried his was to his university, lifting his head the instant he walked through the doors of the lab. His friends glanced up from their work and instantly surrounded him. Tadashi felt better instantly.

“Hey guys,” he greeted.

“Ah! Tadashi! We were hoping you would get here soon!” Honey Lemon smiled wide, clapping her hands together. “There's something you need to see!”

Tadashi raised an eyebrow, but let his friends lead him over to a table. On the table sat a petri dish with a micro-bot inside of it. A micro-bot that was undeniably one of Hiro's. Tadashi's eyes widened in shock as he saw the micro-bot move inside the petri dish, as if it were trying to get somewhere.

“Hiro's micro-bot?” Tadashi muttered, mostly to himself.

“Yeah, man,” Wasabi began, placing a hand on Tadashi's shoulder. “We were all in here working when it flew out of your lab. Gogo managed to catch it, and we put it in here so you could see.”

Tadashi picked up the dish, careful not to give the micro-bot any room to escape. He tilted the dish to the side, observing how the bot was trying to go in the same direction no matter how the dish was turned. A frown tugged at Tadashi's lips.

“It's trying to go somewhere.”

Gogo blew a bubble, popping it loudly. “Yeah, genius. We already figured that out. We needed to tell you first before we did anything about it, though.”

Tadashi nodded, his frown growing more concerned. He glanced up at the group around him. “Are any of you wanting to go?”

Fred raised his hand, jumping up in excitement. “Oh, oh! Me! I want to go!”

A small laugh came from Honey Lemon. “We may have spoken among ourselves and decided if you wanted to go, that Fred would go with you!”

Tadashi's frown lessened at that, a small smile gracing his lips at his friends. They were just as adventurous as he was sometimes, but when it came to things like this- important things- he knew he could count on them.

He lifted up the petri dish with the micro-bot encased inside and motioned toward the door with his head. “C'mon, Fred. Let's go figure out why this micro-bot seems to want to join up with some friends.”

Fred whooped loudly, running ahead of Tadashi and darting out the door. Tadashi turned to give a wave to the others, assuring them that he and Fred would come back and tell them what was going on. He followed along after Fred, feeling lighter than he had ever since the explosion. Maybe he was wrong- maybe he actually was an adventurous person.

Tadashi walked alongside Fred, listening to him sing some random song he had just made up. He hummed along with his friend, smiling softly as the followed the direction the micro-bot was going. His head was held low, so he didn't see the door before he ran smack-dab into it. Tadashi stumbled back with a grunt, blinking in surprise as his vision was taken over by the image of a wooden door.

“It's locked.” He stated, almost dumbly.

Fred looked up and around, a loud “uuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhh............” coming from his lips as he looked for another way in. He jumped a moment later, nudging Tadashi on the shoulder and pointing up to a window.

“What about that window? I'll boost you up so you can get inside and investigate.”

Tadashi grinned wide, nudging Fred back. “Hey, good idea! Let's go.”

He shoved the petri dish into his pocket and walked over to the ledge, jumping up and pulling himself up so he could get up there. He turned around and held out a hand to help Fred get up. His friend took his hand, grasping tightly as he tried to pull himself up along with Tadashi's help. Tadashi couldn't help but chuckle at his friend, but the instant Fred was up his laughter was gone. He was about to go inside an abandoned building to see where a micro-bot was going. It really wasn't his best idea.

Fred ushered Tadashi over to the window and knelt down, giving Tadashi a boost up to grab the window-sill. With a groan, Tadashi pulled himself up, slipping inside the building through the window. He fell to the floor inside with a huff, instantly jumping to his feet in case there was someone else in here who might attack him. Tadashi had just gotten inside, and he was already jumpy- this wasn't good at all.

Tadashi crept forward, pulling the petri dish from his pocket to check to see if he was going in the right direction. The micro-bot was still pushing itself against the glass in the same direction, so Tadashi knew he was close. He made a motion to put the dish back in his pocket when the micro-bot pushed harder against the glass and the top flew off, allowing the micro-bot a quick escape. Tadashi gasped as he saw it fly forward, and he quickly jogged forward to follow it before it got away.

He rounded a corner and instantly felt a wave of regret wash over him. There were thousands upon millions of micro-bots filling the building in barrels. He felt his stomach do a flip as he stepped forward, inspecting a barrel currently being filled with new micro-bots. Whoever was doing this hadn't just stolen Hiro's design, the invention he had worked so hard on- they had stolen it and practically claimed it as their own by making more. Tadashi felt a surge of anger take over his body as he stepped forward to slide a hand into the barrel of micro-bots.

“These are Hiro's,” he whispered, a feral tone in his voice. “They shouldn't be here.”

He went to grab a handful when suddenly every micro-bot began to shake, surging forward and away from him. Tadashi jumped back in surprise and glanced up to see where they were going. He froze in fear as he saw a man in a long trench coat and a Kabuki mask raising an arm. The micro-bots were surging toward this man, and that meant...

This man was the one who had stolen Hiro's micro-bots.

Tadashi scowled, ready to fight the man right then and there, but the instant and sharp, solid object formed from the micro-bots flew at him, nearly striking him through the chest, Tadashi knew he was no match for this guy. It took Tadashi less than a second to turn around and bolt back toward the window he had climbed in. He scrambled away from the man following him and throwing micro-bots shaped to kill him in his direction. Tadashi quickly pulled himself up and through the window, startling Fred. He grabbed his friend's arm and jumped down to the ground and took off.

“Woah! Bro, are you okay?” Fred questioned, glancing from Tadashi back to the building- right at the moment the man in the Kabuki mask decided to burst through the wall. Fred stifled a scream and took off, running faster than Tadashi was.

The pair rounded a corner, attempting to weave their way through alleys to escape the man. They only paused to catch their breath when they were sure they couldn't hear the man anymore, when they were sure they were safe. Tadashi looked over at Fred, his breathing rough and sharp. Fred looked back at him with the same expression of fear coating his features.

“What WAS that?” Fred asked through labored breaths.

Tadashi shook his head, forcing himself to start walking again. “We need to get back to the others now. I think I know what's going on.”

Fred groaned softly, pushing himself off the wall he had been leaning against, and he followed after Tadashi. The pair of them walked slowly, still trying to catch their breath, as they made their way back to the lab. The instant the stepped through the lab doors, Fred collapsed against the wall with a loud groan. He slid to the floor and closed his eyes, breathing roughly through his mouth. Tadashi couldn't even laugh at his friend's antics because he was so out of breath.

He forced himself to walk over to Gogo, Wasabi, and Honey Lemon. The three looked between him and Fred in concern. When Honey Lemon opened her mouth to question if they were okay, Tadashi held up a hand. He took a seat in the floor, falling back onto his back. He held up a hand, pointing to the sky.

“Okay, everyone. We have a problem.”

Gogo raised an eyebrow. “What kind of problem?”

“A problem?” Wasabi glanced nervously down at Tadashi. “I don't like the sound of that. I don't like problems. Problems aren't good for order. We can't have order if there's a problem. Tadashi, what's the problem?”

Tadashi let himself catch his breath before pushing himself back up into a sitting position. He looked up to his friends before standing up and explaining what he had seen at the warehouse. He told them how the man had chased him and then once he had gotten outside, how he had continued to pursue Fred and himself. Tadashi shoved his hands in his pockets, noticing one of the micro-bots he had grabbed before the man had attacked them. He hadn't even realized he had grabbed it.

“How are we supposed to do something about this?” Honey Lemon looked down at Tadashi, concern written across her features.

Tadashi pulled out the micro-bot and held it up. “This is how. The next time he tried to call all the micro-bots together, we'll find him.”

“Dude, how are we supposed to stop him, though?” Gogo tilted her head, looking at Tadashi with an unimpressed expression.

Tadashi opened his mouth before closing it again. He hadn't thought that far ahead, and he knew his friends knew that. He pushed himself up and stood, plopping the micro-bot into another petri dish. “We'll figure that out. But for now we need to keep an eye on this thing. We can't let it get away because we need it to find that man again.”

The others didn't look at convinced at Tadashi felt, but he knew they would go along with him. They were his friends, and if this was a big problem, he knew they would want to do something to help. Even if they couldn't do anything themselves, Tadashi trusted his friends to want to help.

Tadashi pulled up a chair and sat at the table, watching the petri dish. Fred sat with him, babbling about how they had gotten attacked by what seemed like a super villain. Tadashi wasn't sure about that yet, but he did know that this man was a thief and a fraud, and he needed to be stopped. Tadashi wouldn't let someone get away with stealing his brother's work. He had been there with Hiro through the entire process of making those micro-bots, and to see someone taking them and using them for god knows what- it hurt Tadashi to watch. He could hardly bear the thought of someone using his brother's invention for evil.

Several hours passed of Tadashi dwelling in his thoughts and watching the micro-bot. He was silent, only speaking when Fred of one of the others directly asked him a question or spoke to him at all. His eyes stayed glued to the micro-bot, looking for any sign of even the smallest movement, a twitch even. He wanted to be able to leave the instant he saw it move, and if he watched it carefully enough, he could be sure he did.

The very instant the micro-bot clicked against the side of the petri dish, Tadashi was on his feet. He grabbed the dish and gently smacked Fred's shoulder.

“Come on, guys. I want all you to see this guy this time.”

The five of them piled into Wasabi's car, driving with a micro-bot as the GPS. Wasabi was adamant about following traffic laws even at a time like this, but Tadashi didn't get mad about it. He watched the micro-bot with a look of stony calm on his face. He needed to be the brave one now. He couldn't let them see how angry he was about this whole situation. He couldn't let them know how worried he was that, in the end, they wouldn't be able to do anything at all.

The moment Wasabi stopped his car, Tadashi opened his door and stepped out, glancing up to see where the micro-bot was pointing. He peeked around a shipping container and saw the man upon a pedestal of micro-bots. Tadashi narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Why was he standing over the water like that?

Tadashi glanced back, holding up an arm to stop any of his friends from stepping around the container. He motioned toward the man and placed a finger over his lips to warn them to be silent. Gogo rolled her eyes at him and looked around the container, her expression shifting the moment she saw the man. Her eyes went wide and she took a step back as she saw the man pull out a huge chunk of metal from the water. Fred muttered a soft “Holy mother of Voltron” at the sight before them. The man in the mask was pulling a curved piece of machinery from the bay, held up by arms of micro-bots. Wasabi placed a hand on Tadashi's shoulder.

“'Dashi, maybe we should lea-” Wasabi began, his voice a whisper- but apparently a whisper was still too loud.

The man in the mask whipped his head around, his gaze landing right on Tadashi. Not even a second passed before the man was making his way toward Tadashi and his friends. He turned around quickly and pushed his friends back toward the car.

“Guys we need to go! He saw us!”

The group rushed back toward the car in a scrambling mess, nearly tripping over each other as they filed into the car. Wasabi turned the key and buckled up before taking off. Fred was rambling excitedly as the man followed after them, shouting that they were getting attacked by a super villain. Tadashi was rifling for some way to fix this, some way to help them get out of this safely, but his thoughts were abruptly interrupted as Wasabi stopped at a stop light.

“Wasabi, my friend, you do realize that we are being chased by a villain, right?” Tadashi asked, his voice eerily calm.

“Yeah! But you can't just ignore the law, Ta-”

Gogo huffed in annoyance. “We are not doing this.”

The smaller girl pushed herself over the seat and plopped herself down into Wasabi's lap, grabbing the steering wheel and changing the car's gear. The car took off once more, speeding through the roads and lights as the man in the mask chased after them, attacking their car every other second. Tadashi glanced back, staring at the man as Gogo barreled the car across a gap between two bridges. Wasabi was screaming, but Tadashi could barely hear him.

Tadashi's thoughts were swirling in his mind, but there was one clear thing at this moment. This guy was a super villain. Only a super hero can stand a chance against a super villain- that was one of the rules of the world. And if this guy was attacking them, that meant they needed to do something.

And Tadashi knew what they had to do.

“Gogo, we need to get back to the lab!”

The girl glanced over at him with a frown. “I'm trying to get us away from this guy first, Tadashi!”

In the moment her eyes were off the road, a swarm of micro-bots had surrounded them. Tadashi swore under his breath. This was bad.

“We're not gonna make it!”

Gogo's gaze hardened and she switched gears again, pressing her foot down on the gas pedal as far as it would go. She burst through the wall of micro-bots and the car went plunging straight into the water. Tadashi's eyes widened in a panic as he realized water was surrounding them. He unbuckled himself and Wasabi and managed to get the door open. He tugged his friends out and swam up to the top with them. As they broke surface, he gulped in a huge breath of air and realized how cold the water was.

“We need to get somewhere safe now. I know what we have to do,” Tadashi managed to say through clacking teeth.

Fred was shaking just as much as Tadashi was as he spoke. “I know a place.”

Once they were all out of the water, Fred led them, dripping wet, through the city toward a mansion. The entire group paused at the sight of the mansion, but Fred kept going. He paused only when he was at the front door and the other four were still staring from the street. Fred glanced back with a crooked smile.

“Uh, welcome to mi casa!” He glanced back to the house then back to his friends. “That's French for 'front door'.”

Honey Lemon muttered a “It's really not...” before the group made their way up to the house. Once inside, the others couldn't help but stare in awe around them. The entire house was amazing, extravagant in every way. Even Fred's room was extravagant, much to Tadashi's surprise.

He couldn't let himself get distracted by Fred's house, though. Once they were enclosed in Fred's room, Tadashi motioned for them to sit down. He stood in front of them, glancing around as they sat. He knew they would probably shoot his idea down, but it was worth a shot. He took a deep breath and looked at the four of them.

“Guys, I've figured out how we can do something about this,” Tadashi began.

He took nearly an hour, explaining his plan and the details of what they had to do. He took a piece of paper and sketched out quick drawings of general ideas for each of their suits. He told them how they would be making them starting tonight.

He only stopped when Honey Lemon tentatively raised her hand. He nodded to allow her to voice her concern.

“But, Tadashi... We're not physically capable of this stuff. We're nerds, geeks. You know this.”

Tadashi smiled softly and shook his head. “You're all geniuses. You all need to use your head for more than what you've been using it for. So do I.”

He glanced over at one of Fred's many pictures of super heroes. “I know we can do this if we set out minds to it.”

The others glanced at each other, all of them silent for a moment, before Wasabi finally stood up.

“I'm with you, Tadashi.”

Gogo shrugged, a tiny smile on her lips. “I guess I'm down for it.”

Fred jumped up, grinning up to Wasabi and then to Tadashi. “This is a chance to be a superhero! Of course I'm in!”

Honey Lemon paused before nodding, smiling up o Tadashi. “I'll help. Any way I can.”

Tadashi's smile grew wider, looking to all of his friends. “Let's go get started then.”

The five of them changed clothes and made their way to the lab. They set to work instantly. Taking Tadashi's sketches and bringing them into existence. Wasabi was working carefully on his weapon, Fred was bringing everyone snacks, and Tadashi was working on Fred's suit. Once he was done with that, he set to work on his own. He hadn't drawn out himself a sketch, but he knew what he wanted. He knew what he needed and what he needed to do to get it.

What should have taken several weeks to perfect took 18 hours. Tadashi finished his suit last. The others were all practicing their aim, practicing catching the man in the mask, while Tadashi was perfecting the last part on his helmet. He needed a scanner, something to pinpoint who exactly this person was. If he took the details he had used to install those medical procedures in Baymax, Tadashi knew he could get his helmet to scan all the lifeforms in the San Fran-Tokyo area and find this man.

Once Tadashi was finally done, he put it on, adjusting his jet pack so that it would work properly. He flew his way to Fred's house to meet up with the others. He touched down just as Wasabi was practicing with his weapon. With a grin, he snuck up behind the butler and flipped the mask off and held it up high. Wasabi stopped right when he got past the tennis ball machine and frowned.

“It was my turn, man!” Wasabi punched Tadashi lightly in the shoulder, careful not to hit his armor.

Tadashi grinned and tossed Wasabi the mask. “Gotta be quicker next time then.”

The bigger man rolled his eyes at Tadashi, but it was obvious he wasn't actually mad. The others spotted Tadashi after a moment and rushed over to him. Fred pushed his suit's head off and looked at Tadashi's armor in awe.

“Dude, this is sick! You look killer.”

Tadashi laughed, explaining how he'd thought this suit suited him better than his original thought. Fred agreed, grinning over to his friend as if he were proud of him. Tadashi grinned back and then turned to the others.

“Okay, so I have a plan for how I'm going to find this guy,” he announced. “I'm going to fly up there and scan the area. Maybe I can find him that way, and when I do we'll all go. You guys keep practicing. I'll be back soon.”

Honey Lemon smiled wide. “Okay, Tadashi! Just let us know once you're heading back.”

He nodded, giving them a wave before shooting himself up into the sky. He held himself aloft in the air and turned on the scanner, looking around the city below him in concentration. If he could find this man quickly, they could all get this whole thing over with sooner. He just wanted to avenge his brother- get those micro-bots back. Tadashi was sure, at this point, that his brother had died in vain. It had all been a plot for this guy to take Hiro's micro-bots.

Tadashi spotted a life source on an abandoned island and frowned. That had to be this guy's hide-out. He quickly sent a message over the headset and began back toward Fred's house. Once he touched down, he told them where they needed to go. Wasabi, of course, had a small complaint.

“Ah, how are we supposed to get there?”

Tadashi paused before smiling calmly. “I'll carry you all there. My jet pack can withstand the weight.”

Wasabi looked uncertain, but Tadashi knew it would be fine. He lifted himself up and held out his hands. “Two on my back and I'll hold two.”

Eventually, they were on their way to the island. Wasabi was clinging to Tadashi's back, obviously terrified from how much he was muttering. Honey Lemon was watching in awe as the city passed below them. Tadashi was, however, thoroughly regretting not giving one of the others a jet pack, because he was straining. Thankfully, once they landed on the island, everyone was off of him in an instant.

They made their way inside, silent as they could be. Tadashi noticed the signal to his helmet was being scrambled, but he assured himself not to worry. It'd be fine. They'd find the guy in the Kabuki mask even without his sensor, and they would take his mask and force him to give up power over the micro-bots. In the end, it doesn't matter if his sensor works if he can just get the mask, and hopefully the band that controls the micro-bots that should be in the mask.

Tadashi stopped, noticing a door slightly ajar. He frowned and glanced at Honey Lemon, noticing she had spotted it as well. She inched toward it and glanced inside. Tadashi took a step closer to her as she pushed the door open more.

“Guys, you should come look at this,” she whispered, already taking a few steps inside the room.

Wasabi was the first one in behind Honey Lemon. Tadashi waited for everyone to get inside and followed up at the end, making sure he was the one watching their backs. It seemed suspicious that this door was open like that, yet there was no one inside the room. Tadashi looked around, eyes spotting the torn machinery in the room. It looked familiar, but he couldn’t place where he could have possibly seen it before. He watched his friends, his team, creep through the room and to the control room. He followed close behind, making sure no one had come in behind them. Without a second thought, he closed the door to the control room- just in case someone decided to sneak inside. He couldn’t help that he was paranoid, but paranoia was going to keep them alive.

Tadashi noticed the security camera feed on and frowned. Why was there any power to this place if it was abandoned like this? Gogo stepped up to the control panel and started turning a few knobs, pulling the security feed up properly. Tadashi watched it, spotting a pilot in her ship and Mr. Krei showing off the new invention. The team was silent as they watched the events play through, glancing out the control room window at the machinery outside. Something must have gone wrong- that’s why it looked destroyed like it did now.

Tadashi reached forward and paused the feed right at Callaghan burst onto screen. He slowly rewound the feed and stopped. He looked at the image on screen, Callaghan with the pilot who had been destroyed in the experiment. It all made sense now.

“The man in the mask is Callaghan.”

Wasabi looked over at Tadashi the back to the screen. “But Callaghan should be- “

Tadashi lifted his head and looked straight at Wasabi. “Dead. I know. But that girl- that’s his daughter. I saw a picture of her once when I visited his office.”

Tadashi looked out the window, out toward the wreckage of the failed experiment. The experiment that was entirely Krei’s fault- he knew that, and he knew Callaghan must have thought that too. His gaze hardened as he realized that this could have been him. He could have been like this at Hiro’s death- he could have attacked people, stolen something that wasn’t his. All of this, in an attempt to get back at the person who caused his brother’s death- just like Callaghan was doing.

“Watch the video again. The portal is stuck in a state of sucking everything inside. He’s trying to rebuild it, guys,” Tadashi stated, looking back to his team. He turned his back on the test room to look at them all properly. “He’s going to go after Krei. Krei is the reason his daughter is gone- he wants to get back at him.”

Suddenly, everyone’s focus changed from Tadashi to the window behind him. An expression of fear morphed everyone’s faces, and Tadashi knew something was wrong. He whipped around- just in time to see a huge boulder crashing through the window’s glass. He moved quickly, pulling his weapon out and flipping it around. He nearly fell back at the force of the impact of the boulder on his weapon, but in the instant he had left, he pressed the button and the boulder shattered into a flurry of pebbles and dust. He looked back to his friends and then toward the man- toward Callaghan.

Tadashi sprinted forward, jumping through window and staying aloft as his jet pack came to life. He flew towards Callaghan and flipped the weapon round again, pointing the bladed end at his enemy. He wasn’t planning on attacking him to hurt him, but he knew Callaghan would defend himself and attack with the micro-bots.

Just as he’d expected, a wall of micro-bots flew across his vision and blocked Callaghan from him. Tadashi sliced through the wall and landed with his feet on Callaghan’s chest. His enemy flew across the room, almost landing hard on the floor before his micro-bots swept in to catch him.

“I know what you’re up to, Callaghan, and I won’t let you do it!” Tadashi shouted, staring down at his former professor in disgust.

Callaghan started, surprise obvious in his actions. He went to stand but was instantly forced back to the ground as Fred landed square on his chest.

“Nope! We’ve got you now, super baddie Callaghan!” Fred shouted, blowing a short burst of fire to the sky.

“You can’t stop me! “Callaghan began, his voice loud and rumbling through the destroyed room. The micro-bots began to stir once more and-

-instantly stopped.

Honey Lemon held up the mask, gazing down at Callaghan with a sad smile. She tossed the mask over to Wasabi, his plasma lasers slicing through the micro-bot control instantly. The micro-bots lay still as the control was destroyed. Callaghan stared in horror before struggling to try to get up, to try to get away from them.

Gogo spun around him, lifting a leg to place one of her wheels on his throat. She blew a bubble, looking him in the eyes as it popped. “We aren’t going to hurt you, but I wouldn’t move if I were you.”

Tadashi smiled, feeling thankful he had his team, his friends, with him. He pressed a button on the side of his helmet, waiting for the line to be picked up.

“911, what’s your emergency?”

Tadashi smiled, a cruel and kind smile, down at Callaghan as he answered the 911 dispatcher. “Yes, I have a man here who was planning an attack on Krei Tech’s CEO, Mr. Krei. He has stolen equipment, as well. We have him contained, so if you could send someone to pick him up from the island, we’ll have him here.

He hung up before the dispatcher could respond, knowing the story sounded odd. He crossed his arms and took his authoritative stance. “Now, you’re not going anywhere but jail.”

Callaghan looked up at him and scowled. “Why are you stopping me from destroying him? He took my daughter, my Abigail, from me!”

Tadashi’s gaze went dark. He felt the air grow colder, but he paid it no mind as he pulled out his weapon again. He slowly lowered the blade, lightly pressing the tip against Callaghan’s pulse point- only pressing in enough to warn the man to shut up.

“And my brother ran into that building to save you.” Tadashi’s voice was icy, and he knew his friends were staring at him, unsure of what he was about to do, but he continued on. He locked gazes with Callaghan as he spoke once more. “Meaning you took my brother from me. By your logic, shouldn’t that mean I ought to destroy you too?”

Callaghan was silent for once, but so were Tadashi’s friends. His gaze flicked from his enemy to each of his friends, confirming that they were all looking at him in shock. He’d apologize later, but right now he needed to threaten his enemy.

He looked back down to Callaghan and pressed the blade in just enough to draw a drop of blood. “What do you say I go ahead and do that?”

“Tadashi...” Honey Lemon stepped forward, placing a hand on Tadashi’s shoulder.

He looked over at her and then back to Callaghan. A beat passed before he lifted the blade away from Callaghan’s neck. His eyes still held the same coldness as before, and Callaghan knew what he was in for if he tried anything else. He pushed his weapon back to its transportable size and stuck it in its compartment on his back.

The team was silent as they waited for the police. Once they arrived and had taken Callaghan in handcuffs, Tadashi ushered his friends from the building, flying them off the island before the police could ask them anything. Without a second thought, they went back to Fred’s mansion and collapsed on the floor of his room. A few minutes were spent in silence before Tadashi spoke.

“I’m sorry if I scared you guys,” he whispered. “I just got mad because of what he said.”

“You...” Wasabi trailed off before looking over to Tadashi.  “You weren’t actually going to hurt him, were you?”

Tadashi looked back to his friend and shook his head. “No. I just wanted to threaten him. I wouldn’t actually hurt someone like that.”

Gogo chuckled. “’Coulda fooled me, dude. You were kind of scary there.”

“Heck no!” Fred jumped up and lifted his arms up high. “It was awesome and scary! You can be our intimidation factor for the team!”

Everyone went silent as what Fred said began to sink in. Honey Lemon was the first to speak up again.

“Does this mean we’re going to actually continue doing this? For like, other bad guys?”

Tadashi pushed himself up, pulling his helmet off. “Well, if you want to, yeah? But you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

Slowly, the others began to sit up. Wasabi looked like he was seriously considering it. Tadashi watched as he muttered to himself, pointing in the air at nothing in particular. After a moment he nodded.

“I think the pros for it outweigh the cons, so I’m in.” Wasabi smiled over at his friend.

“I’m totally in, man,” Fred interjected, plopping down to sit beside Tadashi. He nudged him hard, a grin visible on his lips.

Tadashi looked over to Gogo and Honey Lemon. “If you don’t want to- “

Gogo raised a hand to stop him. “Shut up. Like I’d let you men have all the fun. You need at least one woman on your team, so you won’t be reckless and let yourselves die.”

There was a moment of silence and everyone looked at Honey Lemon. She seemed to shrink in on herself as the attention shifted to her. Tadashi gave her a soft smile.

“Honey, if you don’t want to do this, you don’t have to,” he said, voice as soft as his smile. He didn’t want her to force herself to do something she didn’t want to do.

“Yeah, if you don’t want to do this, we won’t force you to,” Wasabi nodded, looking from Tadashi to Honey Lemon.

Fred nodded in an over-exaggerated fashion, smiling at her. “It’s totally cool! Do what you want!”

Gogo nudged her softly, giving a nod once Honey Lemon had looked over at her. Honey Lemon finally smiled at that and looked back up at everyone else. She pushed her helmet off and sat it in her lap.

“It’s not that I don’t want to do it, it’s just…,” she paused and chuckled. “We kind of need secret identities if we’re going to be super heroes, don’t we?”

Tadashi couldn’t help himself- he started laughing. He let himself fall back against the floor again as the others began talking about secret identities.

“I don’t really want to worry about it! I want people to know I’m a super hero, man!” Fred was practically bouncing in place beside Tadashi, his excitement contagious.

Wasabi made a sound of disgust. “Bro, no!  I don’t want people to know who I am! It can mess up my whole plan for the future!”

Gogo shrugged at that. “Why don’t we just go by the nicknames Fred gave us?”

“Because everyone at school know we go by those names!” Wasabi shouted in exasperation.

Tadashi laughed once more. “Let’s just come up with new names then. Like Knight Godzilla or Master Chemist?”

“Those are terrible names, Sushi man,” Fred countered.

Tadashi bolted up. “Hey! It’s better than Sushi-man, Fred!”


End file.
